Alpine has dropped Antonio Felix da Costa and Fred Makowiecki from its line-up for this weekend’s World Endurance Championship race at Fuji Speedway.
The French manufacturer will switch to two-driver line-ups for the sixth round of the season, with Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi piloting the #35 A424 and Jules Gounon and Victor Martins sharing the sister #35 entry.
Da Costa and Makowiecki had appeared on the original entry list for Fuji 6 Hours when it was published earlier this month, but Alpine announced on Tuesday that both drivers will now sit out the race.
Neither driver is expected to return for the final two rounds of the season in Barcelona and Monza, although Alpine is yet to confirm that their 2026 campaigns have been cut short.
With the WEC dropping the long-distance races in Qatar and Bahrain in favour of regular six-hour events in Europe, teams no longer need to field three drivers in each car this year.
#35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Antonio Felix Da Costa, Ferdinand Habsburg, Charles Milesi, #36 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Jules Gounon, Frederic Makowiecki, Victor Martins
Photo by: Paul Foster
Two-driver crews are becoming more common in Hypercar, offering teams more strategic options in races and drivers more track time in practice. Aston Martin ran two-driver crews at all races except the Le Mans 24 Hours this year, while Cadillac’s #12 car also raced with two drivers at Imola and Sao Paulo because of Alex Lynn’s absence.
The changes to Alpine’s line-up come amid a transitional period for the brand. With the Renault Group having announced plans to leave Hypercar at the end of the year, its operational partner Signatech is in the process of finding a new manufacturer to take over the programme. Chinese brand Geely has been strongly linked with a tie-up with Signatech for 2027.
Further, da Costa’s likely exit from Alpine lends credence to rumours that he will join Cadillac next year, reuniting with the Jota team with which he won Le Mans and WEC LMP2 titles in 2022.
The driver changes come exactly a year after Habsburg, Milesi and Paul-Loup Chatin broke through to deliver Alpine its first Hypercar win with the A424 at Fuji.
Alpine has not enjoyed the same level of success this season amid increased competition in the Hypercar class, but it scored its first podium of 2026 at Austin earlier this month, with da Costa, Milesi and Habsburg finishing third in the Lone Star Le Mans.
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